


The Cat Burglar

by ConfusedAlpaca



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Khajiit (Elder Scrolls), Not Beta Read, Work In Progress, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24603727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfusedAlpaca/pseuds/ConfusedAlpaca
Summary: In which a Khajiit accidentally ends up in Skyrim and maybe then does some Shenanigans.(It's pretty much just the backstory of my dragonborn, written for writing practice)
Kudos: 1





	The Cat Burglar

M'adhi was many things, but right this moment she was a thief. She was not exactly skilled in many areas but she had a decent talent for robbery and excellent luck. At least, she did usually. Today, however, it seemed her luck had run out.

She was standing in the middle of the room, lockpicks in one hand and a ruby in the other. The display case she had just cracked open sat just behind her, still open. Still with all the other gems inside. The rich man stood in the only doorway, frozen, staring. She stared back, teeth bared.

He yelled, a cry loud enough she fully believed that her caravan, on the other side of town, could hear: "THIEF! FILTHY CAT THIEF!" He drew the dagger from his belt, calling for the guard. The knife was a pathetic thing; an implement more of a pickpocket deterrent than an actual weapon. It had likely never been used. The man certainly looked like he had never held it with any intent to use it.

She dropped the gemstone, wincing a little as it clattered against the cold stone floor. The lockpicks she was more careful of, but only a little. They too hit the ground with a noise that made her ears twitch. As soon as her hands were free, she unsheathed her razor-sharp claws. She glanced around, looking for any escape routes and cursed under her breath. The only way out of the room was the door the man was standing in.

This man was clearly not a match for her. She may have only had a little training, but it looked to be more than this man had even considered. He looked like he had never held a sword before in his life. She likely could slice him into ribbons in a heartbeat. If she had wanted to. Which she didn’t. Instead, she stood a little straighter and smiled at the man, showing the man her rather sharp teeth.

"This one may be a thief, but khajiit is not dirty. You smell much worse. This one wonders how anyone can stand to be in the presence of such a befoulment."

Her thoughts raced. While it would probably be easy to just kill the man and flee, he had already alerted the guard. M'adhi was proud of her ability to sneak, inexperienced as she was, but she was smart enough to know that she did not possess enough skill to evade a whole town’s guard on high alert for a murderer. And they would then go after the rest of her caravan if they did not find her. One khajiit was just the same as another to them. She could fight them, but the guards were not stupid enough to trick into fighting her one at a time, so she would stand little chance. No, she decided, a death would just make things worse for everyone.

She would just have to get around him. She hesitated for a moment before rushing at the man, trying to surprise him so he would offer less resistance. Reaching the door, she attempted to slip her lithe frame past him. The man, however, was not so easily stunned. He grabbed hold of both her arms as she passed him, stopping her in her tracks. She squirmed, trying to slip her slender arms from his vice-like grip, but he held firm.

Seeing that she currently had no chance of escape, M'adhi ceased her struggles. She knew that eventually, the man would lessen his hold somewhat. When he did, she would be ready to fly out the door in the blink of an eye. She did her best to look defeated. Only the gentle twitch of her tail belied her intentions. The man, seemingly oblivious to her plan, pushed her back inside the room, before giving her another, heftier shove and slamming the door.

Or he would have, had she not predicted that he would try something like this. Instead of stumbling back as he had expected, M'adhi leapt straight for the door. This time she succeeded. She ran along the corridor, skidding around the corners. The window she had entered through was still open, the stick she had used to prop it up still there.

She threw it open and dove headfirst out the window. As she landed, she rolled under one of the tall flowering shrubs that dotted the garden. She paused, catching her breath and blinking in the bright afternoon sun. She listened intently for any hint of pursuit. Footsteps were approaching the front door of the house. She heard the faint tapping of solid, armoured boots on stone and a loud rapping on the door before it creaked open. It sounded like more than one person.

The man would have clearly seen where she had gone, and her hiding place was fairly conspicuous. She would have to move, and quickly. She rolled out from under the bush and started to run, barely taking time to brush the dirt from her fur. She hurried along, doing her best not to tread on the gravel of the path while still following it closely. Once she reached the corner of the building she peeked around, and, seeing nothing there, sprinted across the small lawn to the wall surrounding the property.

She followed the wall along until she reached a tree which she quickly scrambled up. She peered over at the street. No one there. She shimmied along a branch until she was over the other side of the wall. M'adhi glanced around again, and seeing no change, quietly dropped off the branch and down to the street.

She dusted herself off more thoroughly this time, before walking away from the rich man’s house as quickly as she could without being suspicious. Not that it would help. She was the only person currently on this street. She approached the first junction, only to hear rapidly approaching footsteps. Guards, she thought.

Panicking, she looked around for somewhere to hide. Her eyes darted around before they settled on a small balcony overlooking the road. Not a good hiding place, but it was out of sight enough that a running guard looking for someone on the ground could easily miss her. Using a windowsill as a boost, she scrambled up onto the balcony. She tucked her tail in, and crouched, hardly daring to breathe.

“Come on! She can’t have gotten far!” came a rough voice, and just as expected, two imperials in the yellow of the town’s guard ran around the corner. After a minute or so with no sound except some citizen passing by, she hopped down from the balcony. She stood by the junction for a moment, unsure which was the best way back to the caravan.

She had just reoriented herself when a booming voice spoke. "Stop right there, criminal scum!" She jumped, turning to look behind her and was met with the point of a sword hovering inches away from her face. The guard grimly smiled at her. “You’re under arrest. Come with me now and you won’t get hurt.”

M'adhi weighed her options. She couldn’t get away from this guard without a fight, so simply running was out of the question. She likely stood a decent chance against the one guard, but she could hear at least two more running up from somewhere nearby. She seriously doubted her ability to take on three at once. So fighting was out too. That only left one possibility, the one she liked the least; to surrender and go to jail. She didn’t want to go to jail, besides the disgusting condition it was likely to be in, the caravan would leave her behind without any hesitation. They hadn’t been particularly keen to take her on as she was very inexperienced. It had been made very clear that if she got herself into trouble they could not afford to wait for her, and she would have to catch up by herself if she wanted to be paid.

Defeated, she dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. She slowly shrugged off her small bag, kicking it away from her so the guard wouldn’t think she was reaching for a hidden weapon. One of the other guards appeared behind her and tied her hands behind her back.

“This way,” the guard with his sword out said, “and don’t even think of trying anything.”

She followed him along the road leading uphill, towards the castle. It wasn’t far, the richest citizens lived the closest to the castle after all. They passed through a large gate into a small courtyard in front of the castle. A guard stood either side of the gate, watching the procession. One of them rolled his eyes at her and muttered something she couldn’t quite make out, but suspected was an insult.

M’adhi was led through another large door into the entrance hall of the castle. There was very little in here apart from a couple of small braziers to illuminate the room. A faded yellow banner with some kind of black bird on it hung above the entrance to a larger hall. She tried to peer into the other room but was hurried away down a small passage to the side before she could properly get used to the gloom.

The corridor took them down a flight of steps before they turned, entering an open door to a small room where a bored-looking guard sat opposite another, much sturdier door. Her feet were resting on a table, which she hastily took down when she realized someone had entered. The guard in front glared disapprovingly at her but didn’t say anything.

The seated guard stretched. “Finally. I thought this shift would never end.” She moved to get up and stopped, seeing M’adhi behind him. “Let me guess, still another couple of hours to go.” Seeing the other guard nodding his head, she sighed. “Oh well, if you’re not going to take over then go. I can deal with one cat on my own.”

“This was with her.” said a guard that had been following behind them, depositing M’adri’s bag on the table. “Check it later for anything stolen.” With that, they left the room, leaving M’adhi alone with the jailer.


End file.
